Can’t shift it: five times the council’s rubbish contractors Veolia refused to move this fly-tipped fridge in Norbury, claiming it was on ‘private land’
PERRY’S PILES: For all the Mayor’s grandstanding on local television news, he has been completely ineffectual in getting rubbish contractors Veolia to do their job. By SANDRA STEAD, Town Hall reporter
This is what “zero tolerance” looks like in Jason Perry’s Croydon in 2025.
A fridge, dumped on the pavement by the main road in Norbury, not far from Lidl. It was reported by the council’s preferred method, Croydon’s CrapApp, no fewer than FIVE TIMES… yet the fridge remains in place, untouched by anyone at Veolia, the council’s rubbish contractors, an obstinate reminder of the Croydon Mayor’s many failures.
Mayor Jason Perry took time out of his busy schedule last week to grandstand on local telly, boasting of his new-found enthusiasm for taking effective action, after three-and-a-half years of ineffective inaction.
It was an odd piece of broadcasting by the BBC. Their broadcast item failed to mention that politician Perry is a Conservative. It also failed to mention Perry’s piss-poor record of just four fly-tipping prosecutions in three years. And it failed to offer the balance required under the BBC’s Charter, with no alternative view offered from Croydon’s opposition parties (and yes, there is more than one).
Perry’s pile: the books dumped outside Broad Green Library by contractors working for Croydon Council
Was this non-news item on BBC London some kind of sop to Perry, whose feelings were hurt a week or so previously when he was embarrassed by the broadcasters’ report of his disastrous handling of the clean-up at Broad Green’s former library, where council contractors had chucked hundreds of books out on to the street?
Earlier last week Perry, who is paid £84,000 per year as Croydon Mayor, had sent an unsolicited email out to thousands of Croydon residents, using email addresses scraped together by his Tory pal, Chris Philp.
In his email, Perry was boasting about his new, dynamic approach to the appalling state of our streets.
It is, in case you need reminding, nine months until the local elections on May 7.
“Criminals who blight our streets with illegally dumped rubbish, antisocial behaviour and abandoned cars will find a zero tolerance approach awaits them in Croydon,” Perry announced, after his council had, after much delay, finally managed to secure another prosecution for fly-tipping.
It’s hardly time for a mayoral pat-on-the-back: back in 2017, Croydon Council logged 171 prosecutions for fly-tipping.
Perry has been Croydon Mayor since 2022. This single prosecution, according to Perry, is an example of “my crackdown on environmental crime”. Seriously.
“I’ve prioritised making our streets cleaner and safer,” Perry keeps saying. It’s just that his words and the council’s actions rarely tally up.
Inaction man: Perry’s email sent to residents last week
Which brings us the the five-times reported fly-tipped fridge on Streatham High Road. According to the nice people at Litter Free Norbury – volunteers who appear to have a much better grasp of the street cleaning arrangements on their patch than the £84,000 per year Mayor – every time they have reported the fridge, the report “has been closed not completed as on ‘private land’,” they tweeted.
“Looks like the public highway to me, so what’s the problem?”
They tagged Mayor Perry in to their tweet. The Mayor was shamed into action.
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” Perry tapped out with his podgy little fingers.
“I have escalated this matter directly with the management team at Veolia to ensure that this site is inspected any [sic] fly-tip (including the fridge) is removed.”
The volunteers behind Litter Free Norbury responded, and made a valid point.
“Thanks for the reply, although clearly shouldn’t require the Mayor’s involvement to get Veolia to act.”
Veolia, remember, are the rubbish contractors who in 2023 were told that their contract would not be renewed because… well… they are rubbish. In 2025, Mayor Perry handed a £40million long-term contract for Croydon’s litter-collecting and street-cleaning services to… Veolia.
All tyred out: reported five times by Norbury residents, ignored five times by the council
Tony Hooker, a leading light with Litter Free Norbury, has been checking Veolia’s work for ages. Nothing, it seems, changes, nothing ever improves.
“There are ongoing issues with [the] incorrect closure of reports which we have been highlighting to the council for over two years,” Hooker replied to Mayor Perry.
Hooker also revealed another fly-tip nearby, a pile of tyres. “Same issue – closed five times!”
This time, Croydon’s failed Mayor failed to reply.
Read more: ‘Busted’: Mayor’s video shows rubbish contractors are failing
Read more: Booked! Mayor Perry deceives over destruction of library stock
Read more: Perry’s Piles: Council refuses to act on 30 dumped mattresses
Read more: #Binmageddon: Now Croydon named worst in UK for fly-tipping
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